BEARD: 'Young' IU won't face Illini of old at Big Ten

It's time for Indiana's basketball team to man up — and not just on defense.

The Big Ten basketball tournament begins Thursday with Tom Crean's "young" Hoosiers scheduled for an 11 a.m. date with Illinois in a No. 8 vs. No. 9 pairing. And while it's difficult to put a positive spin on either team being relegated to one of the tournament's four "play-in" games, its especially disappointing for the Hoosiers.

Even with the loss of first-round NBA draft picks Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller off last season's regular-season conference champions, the Hoosiers were expected to be a factor in the Big Ten title chase again this season.

Instead, they've been consistently inconsistent. When it was least expected, the Hoosiers managed to rise up and knock off four Top 25 teams within the conference. But the IU resume also includes losses to the league's three worst teams — at home to Penn State and on the road against Northwestern and Purdue.

It's the wins over Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Ohio State that provide IU fans a reason to believe in the magic of March Madness, especially with the Big Ten tournament being held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. And knowing that IU won the last meeting with the Illini to earn a season split only fuels Hoosier optimism.

Only this really isn't the Illinois team Indiana beat 56-46 at Assembly Hall on Jan. 26. That Illini team was in the midst of losing eight consecutive games, and 10 of 11.

This Illinois team has won four of five, including impressive road victories over ranked teams Michigan State (54-46) and Iowa (66-63).

"They have been playing great basketball over the last month," Crean said of the Illini. "Their defense is at a high level and they are really, really playing with a lot of energy."

With guard Rayvonte Rice leading the late-season charge, the Illini are now confident they can beat any team if they bring their defensive focus.

"You look at our body of work, over our last six or seven games we're clearly playing the best we've played all year," said Illinois coach John Groce. "It's not even close, at both ends of the floor.

"You want to be playing your best heading into Season Three, and we're doing that."

The same can't be said for the Hoosiers, who have lost three of their last five games and six of nine.

And yet, in Jekyll and Hyde fashion, the upsets of Iowa and Ohio State occurred in back-to-back home games in late February.

So yeah, if IU can win the rubber match with the Illini, a matchup with top-seeded Michigan might even be the perfect quarterfinal pairing. After all, the Hoosiers claimed a 63-52 win over the Wolverines on Feb. 2, and then closed out the regular season by giving Michigan an 84-80 scare in Ann Arbor.

If that Indiana team shows up, a few dozen Vegas oddsmakers may even call it quits.

Entering Game 32 of the season, its time Crean quit counting the freshmen and sophomores on his roster.

Numerous times this season he has talked about the growing maturity, experience and confidence of his players. And yet, whenever things haven't gone the Hoosiers' way, Crean has been quick to bring up the youth excuse.

Interestingly, Illinois' late-season turnaround came after Groce decided to give starting roles to freshmen guards Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill. Nunn gave them a much-needed playmaker and the new mix improved the Illini's defense

Even Crean admits Nunn and Hill "came in and did a fantastic job."

Indiana, of course, has its own impact freshmen in Noah Vonleh, Stanford Robinson and Troy Williams, who have combined for 25 points and 16 rebounds per game. If all three show up, and senior Will Sheehey doesn't disappear, the Hoosiers could indeed make things interesting this week.